Electronic encyclopedia "Verbal Culture of Siberia"

Philologists of Tomsk University are creating an Encyclopedia of verbal culture of Siberia.

Scientists have analyzed the extensive corpus of texts: records of Siberian colloquial speech, texts of rites, Siberian folklore, monumental pieces of Old Believer literature, regional newspapers and magazines, fiction pieces by Siberian writers, dictionaries of dialects and databases. This material has been accumulated by TSU philologists in the course of long-term studies of verbal forms of expression of Siberia.

The purpose of this research is to study the verbal culture of Siberia from the standpoint of the unique identity of the region and to demonstrate its culture, languages and literature to Russian and foreign society.

Materials and research results will be presented in the electronic popular science publication "Encyclopedia of verbal culture of Siberia". Encyclopedia will be aimed at the wide range of readers and will help popularize philological knowledge of Siberia.

Articles in the publication will contain comments, images and hyperlinks to media materials and text sources. This will allow the closest acquaintance of readers with Siberian culture.

Philologists hope that, due to the unique materials included in Encyclopedia, it will become a popular information resource attractive to Russian and foreign researchers.

— Language and text reflect the unique features of material and spiritual culture of Siberians, as well as their perception and understanding of the world — says the Assistant Professor of the Russian Language Department at the Faculty of Philology Nina Agapova. — They also represent records of complex socio-historical and socio-political processes that set the course for development of our region. As an example of such a process we might point out the colonization of Siberia. All these components together shape the unique cultural identity of its inhabitants. The identity that raises vivid research interest among scientists around the world.